– HCL AXON, a division of HCL Technologies, which provides Business Transformation consultancy and services through the innovative implementation and support of SAP technologies, announced a strategic partnership with UCS Group and a take over of the UCS Group’s Enterprise Solutions SAP practice. The acquired practice is a division of UCS Solutions and offers Tier 1 Retail and wholesale SAP project implementations. The carve-out transaction entails an all cash consideration of USD 7.7 mn and growth centered earn-out over the next two years.
The carve-out will deepen HCL AXON’s SAP capabilities with best-in-class SAP Retail Industry Solutions (IS) , will bring proven competency in IS Retail and further increase the global delivery capabilities, including a significant boost to the company’s market presence in South Africa. This partnership will allow UCS Group to grow its annuity services business internationally and to support the growth of its SAP All in One business.
“We have a stated strategy to bring strong customer focused vertical propositions and have identified the retail market as a major opportunity. Completing this partnership accelerates our ability to offer the market a combination of extensive SAP IS retail capability and track record which coupled with our own retail experience creates a compelling customer proposition”, said Steve Cardell, President, HCL Axon.
Commenting on the partnership, John Bright, UCS Group CEO, said: “UCS Enterprise Solutions SAP practice has a pre-eminent local market position and an international profile based on strong Tier 1 retail SAP expertise. We believe that combining the Enterprise Solutions division with HCL Axon, the world’s largest implementation services business purely focused on SAP, offers access to a wider skills base, exposure to other leading retailers and a seamless service offering from both partners.”
“The carve-out of UCS Enterprise Solutions SAP practice creates a platform for building leadership in the SAP services market. The retail vertical is a key growth area for SAP and for HCL”, commented Ram Krishna, Corporate Vice President and Head of Enterprise Application Services, HCL Technologies.
The effective date of this transaction is 1st August 2009 after fulfillment of conditions precedent to this transaction.
